The Mayan calendar dates back to around the fifth century BCE. It consists of cycles of varying lengths: there was a 260 day count known as Tzolk'in, and a 365 day count known as Haab'. Each calendar served its own purpose in Mayan culture.
The Tzolk'in calendar governed spirituality, life, and divination. It combines twenty Mayan hieroglyphs with thirteen numbers: creating 260 unique days. Each person was born on a specific Tzolk'in day, which became a crucial part of their identity. The twenty Tzolk'in days are named and defined in the following ways:
- Imix: crocodile, the reptilian body of the planet Earth
- Ik: wind, breath, life
- Akbal: night-house, darkness, the underworld, realm of the jaguar-sun
- Kan: maize, sign of the maize-lord who brings abundance
- Chicchan: snake, the celestial serpent
- Cimi: death
- Manik: deer, sign of the lord of the hunt
- Lamat: rabbit, sign of the planet Venus
- Muluc: water
- Oc: dog, one who guides the night sun through the underworld
- Chuen: monkey, the great craftsman, patron of arts and knowledge
- Eb: grass, point
- Ben: reed, one who fosters the growth of corn
- Ix: jaguar, the night sun, the goddess Ixchel
- Men: eagle, the wise one
- Cib: owl, vulture, death-birds of night and day
- Kab'an: earthquake, formidable power
- Etz'nab: knife, the sacrificial blade
- Kawak: rain, storm, celestial dragon serpents
- Ajaw: lord, radiant sun-god
Another aspect of the calendar is the Haab': the Mayan solar calendar of 365 days. The Haab' consists of eighteen months, each made up of twenty days, and an additional period of five days at the end of the year known as Wayeb. The names and significance of these eighteen months are defined in the following ways:
- Pop: start of the Mayan New Year, dedicated to the Jaguar God of the underworld.
- Wo': a month of heightened spiritual perception, when the boundaries between the physical world and the unseen worlds thinned. Dedicated to the supreme deity Itzamna.
- Sip: month of hunting, a sacred ritual, dedicated to the deer-deity Sip.
- Sotz: a month of spiritual power and danger, dedicated to the death-bat deity Camazotz.
- Sek: a celebration of the cosmos and the heavens, dedicated to the bee-god Ah Muzen Cab.
- Xul: a month for ancestor worship and spiritual work, dedicated to the feathered serpent deity Kukulkan.
- Yaxk'in: the peak of solar energy and vitality, dedicated to the sun god Kinich Ahau.
- Mol: a time of communal gathering and resource collection, dedicated to the rain-god Chaac.
- Ch'en: a month of deep, interior power, and engagement with the unseen forces that shaped reality. Dedicated to the Earth Lord Yum Kaax.
- Yax: the ultimate renewal of life and spring, dedicated to the maize god Hun Hunahpu.
- Sak': a month of purification and clarity, dedicated to the four rain-frog deities.
- Keh: honouring the deer
- Mak: month of enclosure, preserving every sacred space, and dedicated to the rain God and the creator
- K'ank'in: the month of the transformative sun, dedicated to the jaguar god of the underworld.
- Muwan: a month of supernatural communication and prophetic power, dedicated to the black-faced God of merchants
- Pax: months of ceremonies, honouring war captains and military campaigns. Dedicated to the deity of war and combat, Cit Chac Coh.
- K'ayab': celebration of the Earth, dedicated to the maize God Hun Hunahpu.
- Kumk'u: creation date, the cosmic container of origin, dedicated to the supreme creator deity Itzamna.
- Wayeb (Nameless Days): five unlucky days, where malevolent spirits roamed freely, governed by no deity, leaving the month unprotected.